This blog looks at the works performed by an oculoplastic surgeon. The blog discusses the common eyelid conditions that an oculoplastic surgeon dealed with on daily basis with real patient photos (consent obtained).

AT 18, she was deemed beautiful enough to be crowned Miss Malaysia World in
2003.

Today, at only 26, Ms Leng Yein has undergone almost 10 cosmetic procedures -
including a nose job, adding dimples and enhancing her breasts - to improve her
looks.

And she has caused a stir on both sides of the Causeway by raving about her
procedures and posting pre- and post-surgery pictures on her Facebook page,
which has 110,000-plus fans.

Her posts have been polarising, with young women looking to her as their
go-to cosmetic surgery agony aunt.

But some parents worry that she is the wrong role model for young,
impressionable females.

A 21-year-old undergrad here, who wanted to be known only as Wendy, said:
"I've been thinking of making my nose narrower and sharper since I was teased in
secondary school.

"She not only posts pictures of her face just after surgery for us to see,
but also says that it's painful but she can tolerate it.

"I admire her. I want to be like her - dare to change what I'm not satisfied
with myself, regardless of the pain."

Though her parents are against the idea, Wendy is considering a trip to South
Korea to have her nose done.

She said: "I want to do what I feel will make me happy, like her (Ms
Leng)."

But Madam Lorna Neo, 44, a secretary and mother of two daughters aged 18 and
19, felt that it was "terrible" that young women are looking up to Ms Leng.

"She has gone through so many surgical procedures that she no longer looks
like the person she was born as. I definitely don't want my daughters to think
what she's doing is okay," she added.

Mrs Julianne Lee, a 50-year-old housewife, said: "She may say she's happy and
confident, but what's the use of being happy with something that is not natural,
that didn't originally belong on her?"

The mother of two - her son, 25, is a model and daughter, 19, a student - was
also concerned about botched procedures, asking: "What happens when the surgery
goes wrong?"

Ms Leng, who now owns a boutique, a fashion accessories shop, a nail and
beauty salon, a tattoo parlour and a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was
21 when she first had cosmetic surgery - a nose job - in 2006.

But she had been thinking of going under the knife since 2003. That year was
notable for two things - she won the Miss Pahang and Miss Malaysia World titles,
and her boyfriend dumped her for another woman.

Proud to be plasticClick on thumbnail
to view (Photos: The Straits Times)

Left her for prettier girl

Ms Leng, who got married in October last year, told The New Paper in
Singapore recently: "When my first love left me for a prettier girl, I
thought... just because she's hot, you left me. One day, I want to be hotter
than her."

But her first procedure, done in Beijing, China, which saw an implant
inserted up the length of her nose, was botched.

She noticed that the implant was shiny in photographs as it overstretched the
skin on her nose, but she did not correct it until much later. (See report on
facing page.)

Since then, Ms Leng has had five other procedures and a few more corrective
ones done.

With each procedure, she gets a shot of self-confidence, she said.

But she sparked controversy when she came out about her plastic beauty
earlier this year.

It was reported in the media, and her supporters thanked her on her blog and
her Facebook page for leading the way in making plastic surgery less taboo.

On her blog, reader Li Lin wrote: "Leng Yein jie jie (Mandarin for sister), I
am proud of you! You dare to show what's in you, what's with you and what's
about you.

"You taught me on how to love myself, too. I really admire you, your courage,
the way you live and almost everything."

But one of Ms Leng's detractors criticised her for her openness.

He wrote: "She is shameless... bold and is probably the only celebrity (in)
Malaysia (who has gone) public (about her) multiple plastic surgeries."

Others rubbished her blog posts and called her "disgusting" and
"plastic".

Ms Leng told TNP that she is proud of herself and has no regrets.

She described how her friends had insisted their features were "original"
even after she noticed their sharper jawline and other facial changes.

She said she did not want to deny her plastic surgery journey as she did not
want to be like her friends.

She feels that if they had been open about their surgery and advised her on
which clinics and doctors to go to and what risks she would be facing, she would
not have made the mistake of having her first procedure done in Beijing.

She said this is the reason she advises young women now - so they can make
informed choices on where to get plastic surgery done.

And she will not let the opinions of others bring her down, saying: "Haters
will hate everything they can find about me."

As for her extensive plastic surgery, she said: "I don't care whether it's
natural beauty or not. "When you curl your hair and perm your hair, (it's) also
not natural. Like push-up bras, that's not natural. Instead of putting silicone
inside, you just put it outside."

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The skin on the eyelid is the thinnest in the body and distensible allowing the eyes to open and close at ease. If the skin is lost or poorly repaired as a result of trauma, the eyes may have difficulty in closing. This man was involved in a car accident in a rural area 6 weeks earlier. The laceration was repaired by an inexperienced medical officer who failed to appose the wound properly. This resulted in poor cosmesis and the patient was unable to shut his eye at night. The picture shows that the skin was sutured poorly to the lateral side of the upper lid resulting in shortage of skin in the middle part of the eyelid and the lateral side was bulky due to the excess skin.

To improve the appearance of the patient's eyelid and allow the eye to shut properly, reconstruction was undertaken as shown in the photographs below. The area of scarring was released and covered with skin flap taken from the lateral side of the upper lid.

The picture below was taken 2 months after the reconstruction showing much improved cosmesis and normal eyelid closure.

About Me

I am an eye surgeon who also specializes in eyeid surgery. I was trained in Oxford Eye Hospital from 1997 till 2001. I am now a Professor in Ophthalmology in UNIMAS Medical School. Apart from this blogspot, I manage two othe sites Success in MRCOphth and Sarawak Eye Care.